May 1, 2010

City website won't get upgrade yet

The city’s clunky website won’t get an overhaul anytime soon.
The Board of Finance recently stripped $35,000 that had been set aside for new website software from the proposed budget as part of its effort to hold down property taxes.
That leaves the Bristol Development Authority and other city offices that are eager for improvements out in the cold for another year or more.
With the city’s existing software, “there are limitations to what we can do,” said Scott Smith, who oversees the city computers.
“Some of the technology needs to be updated,” Smith said.
Development officials want to use the BDA website to showcase Bristol to potential developers or businesses that are looking for new locales. They said they want the site to feature video and pictures along with data that puts the city in a good light.
Smith said the city’s software can’t handle embedded video – a video set inside a normal web page – but it has some flexibility to show off pictures and texts. It can also link to videos hosted on outside sites such asYouTube.
“It’s better than nothing,” city Councilor Ken Cockayne said.
Jonathan Rosenthal, the development authority’s director, said “the look” of the website could stand to be updated, but there is only so much he can do.
He promised to work closely with Smith to make whatever improvements are possible.
Rosenthal said the content will be updated completely so that it reflects what the office is actually doing.
Smith said the city has a content management system for its website that lets departments have some flexibility in establishing what to put online.
But the basic templates are the same for every municipal department, Smith said.
Some departments have extensive offerings – the land use office, for example – while others have little more than a bare-bones description of what they do.
Bristol is far behind many other Connecticut municipalities in terms of what it puts online and what residents can do online instead of going to City Hall.
Officials said they wished they had the money to make changes soon, but with the budget so tight, they had no choice except to squeeze out the website money until perhaps 2011.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a load of BS. Any real computer person with skills and experience can make the existing website and software very functional, they just have to know what they're doing. Sadly our city pays top dollars for so-called computer people on staff who don't know squat. Furthermore, why don't our department heads and/or their assistants know how to program the website to make their department pages useful and up to date? If the dept. head can't do it, the assistant should. But again, we're paying huge amounts of money in salary to people who lack basic modern office skills. It's very depressing as a resident.

Anonymous said...

Again, the public gets shortchanged on information.

Guess certain politicians like it that way!

Anonymous said...

This administratioon is treating us like Mushrooms: keeping us in the dark and feeding us BS

Anonymous said...

1:56 PM, Guess certain people will use just about any excuse to bash certain politicians!

Anonymous said...

3:30

And certain politicians use any means to minimize the information available to the taxpaying public!

Anonymous said...

In BRISTOL we pay big money to dept heads who do nothing. We let the politicans get away with it.

Anonymous said...

7:54:

I'm not really sure exactly what information certain people think is being kept from the taxpaying public by certain politicians. Whenever I have a certain question for a certain politician, I attend certain meetings and I ask it.

It certainly sounds more like a certain person has a certain ax to grind with certain politicians...poor baby.

Anonymous said...

8:34

How do you know what you do not know????

Why should people have to call "their" politician to get information. What if you do not "have" a politician?

They are complaining that they are overworked. wouldn't this cut down on their workload?

Why should anyone have to call their politician to find out what meetings are being held, where and when?

Do you think that the same response is given for questions asked?

The mushroom comment was right on the mark!

Anonymous said...

10:35, How do I know what I do not know??? I'm not sure about the mushroom comment, but you sure have the BS thing down.

Once again...BIG ax, small mind.

Anonymous said...

8:27

YOU proved that the mushroom comment is valid.

Anonymous said...

10:03:

and YOU proved the BS comment is valid.

Anonymous said...

Yeah Councilor Ken Cockayne, YOU'RE better then nothing too! lol.

Anonymous said...

Take a look at Canton's web site - they have labor contracts posted, tons of info and transparency. They use the same software for the web site that Bristol has. Of course, they don't have a Mayor.

burp said...

2:53 - but not edible ones because anything associated with you would be hard to swallow.

Anonymous said...

4:09 PM: Transparency? Oh, you mean transparent like you and your obvious grudge against the mayor? Yup, that's pretty transparent all right!

Anonymous said...

4:09

Neither does Bristol.

Anonymous said...

5:46:

We've got a mayor, but your village called, they miss you!

Anonymous said...

8:08

Apparently you do not live in Bristol

Anonymous said...

Just goes to show you the people that work at City Hall have been there way to long, and need to retire. The skill set of the people that work at City Hall is sub-par compared to other big Cities across this state.

Anonymous said...

May 4, 2010 9:51 AM - you are absolutely correct about the skill set. The better the skill set of folks at city hall mean less stuff to contract/out source out, which means a savings for the tax payer.

Anonymous said...

Steve,
This is how out of touch J. Rosenthal is. . . Helloo, have you heard of Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn? You don't need extra horsepower with the City web software to get the City's name out there.
When will the administration learn that he is such an absolute waste?

Anonymous said...

Hey 9:26 AM...Helloo, did it ever cross your small mind that perhaps the city has blocked access to Websites like Youtube, Facebook, and LinkedIn by its employees? Just sayin'....

Anonymous said...

10:06

Did it ever occur to you that it is possible to allow access to those sites, and others, selectively?

And the city does it!

Besides, didn't Ward unblock access to thoise and other sites?